Monday, December 25, 2006

The Christmas fun is over. The children are nestled all snug in their beds, exhausted from their busy day. I've cleaned up most of the clutter and hauled 10 loads of recycling to the curb. Now I'm looking to head to bed myself to make up for the whole 2 hours of sleep I got last night, but I wanted to post a little about our day.

Chase was the first up. I told them that they could come to our room no earlier than 6am, so at 6:01am Chase was waking me up. He told me that he has been up since 4am and tried going back to sleep but couldn't. Too excited -- I remember those years from my childhood. Tristan was up quickly after Chase and Brian returned home from work at 6:10am. We had to wake Carissa up at 6:15 because the boys were just so excited. The kids got their gifts from Santa, MP3's and I-pets to go along with them. They had stockings filled with little toys and candies too. Then we started on the presents from Brian & I in the torturous way we do them -- one at a time, starting with the youngest. The kids got lots of little toys and tidbits that they'd asked for.

My favorite presents are the ones the kids make at school for Brian and I. Chase made a clay birdhouse, all painted and fired and stating "cat free zone". Tristan made us a clay bread warmer using his fingerprints and a piece of Christmas tree branch to impress on it. Carissa made us a handprint sign with a cute little poem on it.

At about 8:30 Dad and Linda came over and we started the process over again. We all talked to Jimmy and Virginia in Italy for a bit and ate some cinnamon rolls. Brian headed to bed but the rest of us chatted for a while, then surprised Linda with her Cricut (scrapbooking die-cut tool). All too soon they had to go for their other visits, but Mom and Jim were next on the list.

Present process starts over yet again. Tristan got one of his favorite gifts of the day - a Stitch pillow they picked up last month while in Florida. My Mom got me a spritzer machine, which I was surprised and pleased about. We used to make spritzer cookies every year for Christmas as children but I haven't ever had a machine and made them with my kids. So guess what we're doing next Christmas (or maybe sooner! LOL) ... making spritzers. Mom and Jim stayed for a lunch of take-and-bake pizza that they brought and we all played with toys and relaxed for a bit.

Last on the list was Brian's parents. They came over about 2pm and by then I was dragging. In fact, Carissa and I had just fallen asleep on the couch about 15 minutes before Mom & Dad arrived. They toted everything into the house and I woke Brian up. We started our final present process for the day. The boys were THRILLED to get Nintendo DS's from Brian's parents. Carissa got lots of fun stuff too. I got clothes, a scrapbook tool and a telephoto lens for my camera. Brian got tons of much-need stuff for his new job -- Under Armor t-shirts, duty suspenders, patrol gloves, etc. We stuffed ourselves with ham, rolls, potatos (instant since someone forgot to bring real potatos over like she planned *cough, cough, mom, cough*) and pineapple (my must-have for a ham dinner). They all enjoyed some banana cream pie.

My house was thoroughly trashed. There were pieces of toys and boxes and bows and wrapping paper and every little twist tie and plastic piece possible. But despite the after-math, we all enjoyed another wonderful Christmas day.

1 comment:

Linda said...

I wish *I* was the Linda who got the Cricut....I'm saving up for one now. Sounds like you got lots of nice stuff and that the kids were spoiled and happy (the way it SHOULD be).

My family did well by me, all except my hubby. I'm so hurt and disappointed. Guess I should have realized this year was gonna suck back around Mother's Day when he got me NADA...then the 40th birthday track suit. Well, I am still bitter and REEEEEAAAALLLY need to get over it. I can't even blog about it, as his family reads my blog. sigh.